Day & Night. Black & White. Organic & Paid.

This is a question we are asked by every single new client when we start talking about the Facebook Ad Campaign strategy.

When we start planning the campaign, working out what sort of messages we will be sending out, who we are talking to, what we are talking about – what the offer will be.

These are the sorts of questions we get asked:

“So, if I post on my page, can you get lots of reach with that?”Or “when you do ads, do they show on my business Facebook page?”

Here’s the thing. Most people don’t understand about the different types of content posting we can do for clients, and why they are completely different. Polar in fact. Or what the word ‘organic’ means in this space.

Here’s what it means:

ORGANIC posting means the pieces of content – a photo, a video, a slideshow, whatever – that you post to your page.

PAID content means the pieces of content – ads, photos, videos, carousels, instant experiences, slideshows etc – that we put money behind. They are ads. They display your page id on the top left of the post, but are not necessarily on your business page.

Who Sees Organic Content, and Who Sees Paid Content?

ORGANIC content is shown to a percentage of people who like your page. Not that many though – about 1%. So if you have 1000 page likes, then about 100 will see your post.

PAID content is shown to a new audience of people that we find who might be interested in your business.

Why does Organic Content need to be different from Paid Content?

Can you see how these pieces of content need to be constructed completely differently? Like night and day. Black and white. Oranges and apples.

Not sure why? Because the people who see your ORGANIC content,who like your page, they know you. They’ve heard of you, they have gone to the effort of liking your page, they are already showing interest in your brand, and are starting to trust you. They are WARM. You have earned the right to show them your stuff. You even have the right to make them an offer, or ask them to contact you.

The people who see your PAID ads, it could be that they have NEVER HEARD OF YOU. They know nothing about you, they don’t yet trust you, and they certainly don’t want to be sold to by you. You haven’t earned the right to ask them for anything other than being noticed. They are COLD.

It’s like a first date – you’re both just getting to know each other. Slowly does it. Imagine going on a first date and asking your lucky partner to marry you straight up.

What are the rules?

So here are the rules as I see them:

ORGANIC posting is all about being you, as bright and bouncing and’buy my stuff’ as you like. Well, within reason. And staying on brand on the business page is pretty important.

When people are checking out your page, you want them to have a certain impression and perception of you, so you have a certain amount of control over that.

PAID content is a process:

— Introduce yourself

— Tell stories about yourself that new people might like

— Be educational about what you offer

— Warm people up

— Spend time, budget, and effort warming them up so you can make them an offer after quite a few dates.